


(Don't) Put Your Trust in Me

by LaCacciatrice



Category: DCU (Comics), The Flash (Comics), The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: Blood and Injury, M/M, Minor Character Death, and he is tired, angsty, len isn't good at feelings, true love: breaking your promise and killing someone to protect your frenemy/love interest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:28:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25844332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaCacciatrice/pseuds/LaCacciatrice
Summary: When Len decided to take that job, he was planning to spend his Friday night at the bar, counting his newly earned (not stolen, mind you) money. Instead, here Len was, sitting in the middle of a snowy forest with two dead bodies lying down next to him and another almost-dead one in his arms.Or where Len tries to make some quick cash but it almost gets Barry killed.
Relationships: Barry Allen/Leonard Snart
Comments: 3
Kudos: 101





	(Don't) Put Your Trust in Me

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is based on comics but I am inspired by Len's Injustice 2 outfit because, despite my hatred for the story mode of the Injustice games, his outfit and voice actor fit him perfectly.  
> English isn't my first language, I only self-studied it for a couple of years, so...  
> This was actually part of something I wrote long ago but I never finished it and after reading so many good Barry/Len stories recently I decided to post this part  
> I used [this](https://www.hyperborea.org/flash/central-city.html) outdated CC map because I don't have one for Prime Earth.

_“...t_ _o_ _kill_ _him_ _”._

_Len pressed his back against the chair and crossed his legs with an almost mocking smirk on his face. Only the lower half of his face was visible but you didn’t need to see his eyes to read his expression._

_“What? Kill the Flash? You are crazy.” Her eyes hardened as she eyed him with slight suspicion. She had no reason to be suspicious of him when it comes to their common enemy: The Flash. Captain Cold had a long history with the Flash and he had every reason to hate the Scarlet Speedster._ _She knew they weren’t friends. He wouldn’t trick her to help the Central City’s local hero. Yet, she struggled to understand why he didn’t jump on the opportunity to kill his nemesis. CCPD wasn’t known for its successful history against the Rogues or metahumans. Once you take out the Flash from the equation, CCPD stood no chance against City’s most creative criminals. Len could get everything he wanted; he would become the king of this city._

_“Why not? I assumed this was what you all wanted from the very beginning.” Under his goggles, she could feel him raising an eyebrow._

_“Lady, if we wanted the Flash dead, he would be dead already.” She scoffed at his words in her mind, those fools had no idea what their foe was. The Flash was more than a guy with super speed. Maybe even more than human sometimes. The source of his powers was a complex and mysterious energy field that granted him with mind-blowing abilities and Flash mostly holding back against his non-meta enemies didn’t change the fact that he was a very dangerous, creative and powerful enemy to have._

_“I don’t doubt your ability to eliminate him,” still, she lied to stroke his ego, “what I don’t get it, why? Why did you not kill him yet?”_

_“Because I live in this city, too!” He said frustratedly. “Look, Lady,” he leaned forward and pointed his finger at her face, she looked down at his pale finger with_ _an_ _unimpressed expression, “I know you aren’t from CC, it’s clear. You probably have no idea what kind of crazy shit is going on in this city most of the time. Like, hell, this place is a madhouse sometimes. Do you know how many weird fuckers and creepers crawl out of shadows to claim Central when Flash leaves the city limits for five seconds? I don’t appreciate the Red being in my way at all but we, Rogues, don’t deny that he keeps the city safe against outside threats.”_

_“So, you are saying,” her face was painted with disgust, “that you are okay with the Flash running around as long as he is not in your way?”_

_“Well,” Len leaned back again and smirked at her, “he can also land a hand from time to time, you know? It’s tiring to carry some pieces we steal from one place to another without super speed.” His smile dropped when he turned his face toward the closed door. “Also, then we wouldn’t need Scudder and I could kill him for touching my sister.”_

_“Look”, she sighed tiredly, pressing her forefinger and middle finger against her temple, “I get it. I understand. One step at a time. We can discuss our differences later. All I need is, you to distract Flash. And draw him to the Granite. That’s all I need. And I will pay you handsomely.”_

_Len’s eyes narrowed behind his goggles._

_“Just like that? It’s all that takes?” Why would anyone pay them so much money, just to bring Scarlet to a location? Flash would drop everything and run to wherever she wanted as long as there a crime committed. Well, Len wasn’t going to question her decisions when she was_ _waving_ _thousands of dollars to his face._

_“Well, alright, Lady.” A sly smile appeared on his lips. “My Rogues and I don’t usually do errands like this but yours_ _is_ _a deal that I cannot turn down.”_

He should have turned down that offer. 

That back-stabbing, lying, two-faced bitch. 

At first, everything was going according to the plan. It was mid-December and Central City was getting into the Christmas spirit with non-stop snowing for the past 2 days. Captain Cold almost mockingly terrorized two cops on patrol with his cold gun and lead them to the South, well knowing his team was going to handle them as he was busy with the Flash. From the past encounters, he already knew that Flash was following the police radio. There was no other way he could appear out of nowhere even before their new heist made it to the news. Either that or he was a cop but it was a possibility that Len didn’t like to consider. Also, it would be almost impossible for the Red to ditch his job to take the Rogues down every time if he was actually a cop. 

Things went bad... very quickly. As the Flash appeared in the middle of the Granite, Cold recharged his gun, he was ready to keep the speedster busy until whatever was supposed to happen. Damn it, he shouldn’t have jumped on that offer without a solid plan or understanding of what the Lady wanted. 

“No need for that gun, Snart.” Flash looked at the Cold gun pointed at his chest almost annoyedly. “It’s already cold enough.” 

Len smirked at his tired face. He already knew how much cold annoyed the young speedster. 

“If you are longing for a hot cup of coffee, Flash, Jitters is that way.” 

“Too bad it’ll have to wait until I deal with you.” 

It hit him then. No, literally, it hit him. Just when Flash was taking a step forward, raising his hands in a way that Len was very familiar with and meant ‘let’s talk first’, his eyes caught a movement behind the tree Flash was standing in front of. Before Len could react, something hit him in the chest, the collision was strong enough to knock him off his feet and send him back flying. 

“Snart?!” Flash was right next to him even before his back hit the soft, fresh snow. His gun fell somewhere next to him. Red gloved hands were on him, pushing the snow from his goggles and face. He pushed Flash’s hands away annoyedly and tried to sit up to see who attacked him. Flash was on one knee and his head was turned toward where he was standing seconds ago. His blue eyes turned back to Snart with a frown on his face. “What’s going on, Snart? What are you planning this time?” 

“Do you seriously think I would make someone attack me, Red? The cold is getting to your head.” He hissed with annoyance and reached for his gun. “I have no idea what’s going on.” 

“This must be your plan.” Flash insisted. “You attacked a police vehicle and run into the forest. You brought me here on purpose.” He stood up and took a step back from Snart with suspicion clear on his face. “Now this? It doesn’t make any sense.” 

This time Len saw her. She wasn’t standing behind the same tree. She moved to his left; it was almost impossible to see her in the darkness. Her dark hair and a black domino mask were covering most of her face, he couldn’t see her outfit clearly but he guessed it was mostly black and dark purple. Her hand elegantly reached forward and she fired another dark purple blast toward him. Snart used his legs to push himself backward in time to avoid getting fried. There was a hole from melted snow between his legs, rising steam covered his goggles and Len pushed them up annoyedly. 

He heard Flash move; he clearly wasn’t trusting Snart enough to turn his back to the Captain Cold but his blue eyes were tracing the darkness around them. Wind and snow didn’t help them, it was hard to guess where she was standing now. 

Snart was pissed off, he knew he shouldn’t have trusted a shady woman who didn’t even tell him her name. She offered a lot of money to them for such a small task that she could have done herself. It made no sense. Too bad money was his weakness. And he also liked to mess with the Flash, he would admit. But this? This wasn’t fun at all. He was cold, covered in snow, his chest hurt like someone punched him and he was in the middle of a forest with Flash. On top of that, they were hunted by a crazy bitch, god knows what she wanted from them. 

“Okay, listen, Red,” Snart said tiredly as he was trying to stand up, “it has something to do with me but this wasn’t my plan.” 

“Of course.” Flash looked at him angrily. 

“Oh, just listen for fuck’s sake! There’s this crazy—” Flash’s eyes widened and he reached forward, grabbed his parka and pulled him down in a second. Snart fell face-first onto the snow and frustrated grown escaped between his teeth. At least he didn’t drop his gun this time. His hand tightened around it and he pushed himself, turning around and pointing his gun at the trees. He fired without a second thought. A scream came from that way which would satisfy him if it didn’t belong to a man. So, the witch wasn’t alone. 

“Quick, Red, get them!” But the shiny red boots didn’t move. Snart turned around again and got on his knees, looking up at the Speedster with an annoyed expression. His eyes widened when he saw the Flash standing still. Unnaturally still. 

Since the beginning of their ‘game’, one thing Snart noticed about Flash was that he couldn’t stay still. Not even when they were talking. He would fidget, move his feet, slightly jump around (which was kind of cute)... Right in the middle of this forest was the first time Snart saw him standing completely still. His red gloved hands shakily reached up, toward his chest and his long, graceful fingers wrapped around the shaft of the arrow that was buried in his chest. If his suit wasn’t annoyingly _red_ , Snart could see the blood trickling down. 

“Fuck!” Len hissed. Despite the situation, Flash didn’t look scared or anxious. It was almost like something like this happened to him before. Despite the shakiness of his fingers, his hold was tight around the shaft of the arrow as he pulled it out of his chest. 

“You mad?!” Snart hissed again. “You will bleed to death.” 

Flash fell on his knees tiredly, arrow slipped between his open hands, and fell on the snow, leaving red mark all over the soft whiteness. Snart didn’t realize his hands were shaking, too until he tightened his grip and turned his eyes away from the Flash to find their huntress. 

“I am getting really sick and tired of this game!” He yelled and pointed his gun at nothing. 

“But this is just the beginning.” Len turned around quickly, cold gun pointing at the woman in front of him. There was a man, an archer, standing behind her, his right arm was completely covered in ice and he was holding it with his other hand. The pained expression on his face would satisfy Snart under normal circumstances. But right now, his eyes were focused on the Lady. 

“Who the fuck are you, woman?” 

“Name is Porpora. This is my partner Cremisino.” She threw a mocking glare at the man’s frozen arm. “Though he is useless now. Thanks to you. I should start looking for a new partner.” 

Before Snart could react, she turned around and her blast hit her partner right in the head. From this close, there was no way the man could survive. He fell back like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Snart’s fingers fidgeted on the trigger. A part of him wanted to turn around and look at his own ‘partner’ but he couldn’t take his eyes off this crazy bitch. 

“Cute.” He said. “But what do you want from me?” 

“Nothing from you.” She shrugged and looked behind Snart, a satisfied smile appeared on her lips. “You did your part.” 

“Well, yeah? Your aim sucks, Lady. You attacked me instead of _him_.” She pursed her lips thoughtfully. 

“Yeah, sorry about that.” She looked at him again. “But I wasn’t aiming to kill. You were sooo against the idea of killing him that I thought I had to take you down, too. That also made a good distraction for my partner to shot him.” 

“Well, you thought wrong.” Snart lowered his gun slowly. “You can kill him if you want, I don’t care. Just keep your hands away from me.” 

She smirked at him and walked past Snart. Len turned around slowly and looked at her as she crouched down next to Flash who was lying on the snow, covered in his own blood. 

“What... is it... that... You want?” Flash hissed between his teeth, a thin line of blood running down his chin. 

“I was sent by our God to ensure your death before his arrival.” 

“Your God?” Snart couldn’t help but speak. She turned her eyes to him, the sick excitement in them disturbed even someone like Len. 

“Soon, you will meet him. He is not like this _vessel_ ,” she grabbed Flash’s chin and turned his head toward Snart, “he is a proper Speed God.” 

_Oh, fuck,_ Snart thought, _another evil speedster_. 

“He is coming.” She muttered to herself. “And soon, not just my team, but all of us will be ruled by him. That’s our destiny.” 

Snart knew he was right to call her a crazy bitch. 

“Why did you hire me to get him? You and your ‘team’ could do it easily. You didn’t need me or the Rogues.” 

“God wants to test you. He wants to make sure you are worthy to serve him, Cold. He believes you will make a good servant for him.” _Oh, hell no_. 

“That makes sense.” Snart muttered as she wrapped her left hand around Flash’s throat. 

“I will absorb your power, Flash. It will feed me and make me a better servant for our God, your death won’t be in vain.” 

“But there is only one thing you didn’t count.” Snart pointed his gun at her head from behind. He saw her, surrounded by purple glow, eyes closed and head thrown back. Flash groaned in pain and this was enough to make Captain Cold break his promise and pull the trigger. 

She couldn’t even make a noise as ice covered her entire head; her skull shattered and she fell to her right like a lifeless doll. 

Dead. 

Snart looked down at her body for a moment. He was usually against killing anyone. Not Flash, not civilians and not even those corrupt dumb-ass cops. But there were exceptions to his rules, unlike the Flash. If it was the Scarlet Speedster, he would try to solve this problem without killing her. Not Len. Not Snart. He wouldn’t hesitate to kill someone who so clearly was bad news for everyone in this city. 

Len dropped his gun and fell to his knees next to the Red. His body was limp and all the snow around him was turning red, melted with blood. He reached forward and slowly and very carefully turned his body until he was lying on his back. Flash’s eyes fluttered open and looked at Len tiredly. Snart felt almost naked without his goggles. 

“Hi, Red.” He muttered and took off his parka, pressing the thick fabric against Flash’s chest. Other man groaned weakly. “You lost a lot of blood, Scarlet. We need to get help.” 

“It’s... cold.” Snart almost laughed at him for stating the obvious. Apart from the snow, he already lost a lot of blood. Of course, it was cold. 

“Sorry kid, I am not Mick. Heat isn’t my thing.” He frowned at the blood now covering his parka. It was bad. He needed a doctor as soon as possible or he would return home with a dead Flash and the entire Justice League would hunt them down, especially that Green Light guy. 

“I need... to stay warm.” He muttered. “My healing... won’t work... otherwise.” 

Of course. He didn’t know everything about the speedster. He didn’t know where he got this crazy power or what he could actually do. But he knew Flash healed fast. He noticed this during their encounters when it seemed like Flash was a goner but an hour later, he was running around with his Justice pals like nothing happened. 

“Warmth... sure.” Len muttered to himself. “God, I hate you for making me do this.” 

Once again, he reached forward and carefully placed an arm under Fash’s shoulders, he extended his own legs forward, sitting with open legs as he placed his other arm under Flash’s legs. He pulled the Scarlet Speedster until the other man was sitting between his open legs. His head was pressed against Len’s neck and Snart’s arms were wrapped around the speedster. He reached forward and grabbed the bloodied parka and wrapped it around the Flash. 

So, here Len was, sitting in the middle of a snowy forest with two dead bodies lying down next to him and another almost-dead one in his arms. 

What a way to spend your Friday night. 

They sat there quietly for a while. Until Flash started to fidget again. And despite his annoyance, Len took a deep breath, he was more relaxed now that Flash wasn’t lying on his chest so still like a dead body. Red pressed his face against his neck again and muttered something. 

“What?” Scarlet slightly shifted his face, now his mouth was at least free. 

“It’s working. My healing.” He muttered again. He still sounded weak but now he was speaking without sounding like he was out of breath. 

“That’s good news.” Len didn’t know if he should pat his back like saying ‘congrats for not dying on me’. He wasn’t good at this ‘oh you almost died in my arms, well, that sucks’ scenarios. 

“I am sorry.” Len looked down at the Speedster’s head. “I am sorry I got you into this... that you had to... stay here and... take care of me.” 

Len’s entire body stilled for a second before his right-hand tightening around the speedster while his other hand reached for his head. He put his chin on top of Scarlet’s head. 

“No,” he muttered, “I am sorry. I got you into this mess.” 

Red raised his hand and placed it on Len’s chest. 

“It’s okay. I know you didn’t mean to.” He said softly. “You have a good heart, Len. I know you do.” 

Len sighed annoyedly and closed his eyes. _This idiot kid, I swear_ , he thought. That wasn’t the first time Flash was saying this to him. Normally, their interactions were very limited to banter or angry arguments and discussions about their morality and ethics. But sometimes, in those rare times when he was alone with the Flash, he could see something in those baby blue eyes. A sad look that made Snart feel guilty. He hated feeling guilty. He hated Flash for making him feel this way. He hated how his own father made him guilty when he was a kid. But Red’s looks were not accusing, they were almost pleading. _Don’t do this, you are better than this, you DESERVE better than this_. 

He didn’t. He really wasn’t. 

He was a thief and a criminal and he didn’t even feel bad about it. Was it _stealing_ from the government if the government stole from the people first? All he could feel was anger when he looked down at the people. Poor, hungry, broken, lonely. If the government and the police only favored the bunch of rich bastards and bend everything to their wills and needs while ignoring the pain and suffering of others, then why would Snart feel bad for stealing? People ignored, ridiculed, and insulted prostitutes all the time. But they were the ones who actually worked to earn a warm meal. Then people turned around and worshipped those who lie, who steal, who use people to make a fortune. At least those women he often met at the bar weren’t selling their souls, their personalities, their identities, and their belief for money and power like those politicians and businessmen were. They were the real scums, shameless bastards and thieves. Not Len, not those poor women. 

No, Snart felt no guilt. 

But then he looked at those blue eyes and for a second, he wished they stood on the same side of the law. 

His hand reached toward Red’s face, he meant to check his body heat but then his fingers lightly touched the skin of his cheek and Len slowly caressed the soft skin. 

“Don’t be fool, Red.” He mumbled; his lips were almost pressed against the other man’s head. “You shouldn’t trust me.” 

“But I do.” Flash was gaining his strength again but his mind must be still a bit foggy, otherwise, he wouldn’t let his guard down this easily. The hand that was on Len’s chest moved up, to Len’s neck, and fingers wrapped around the back of the other man’s neck. He raised his head slightly to look up at Snart. When their eyes met, the honest and vulnerable look on Flash’s face pained Len’s chest like he was hit again. “I do trust you, Len.” 

Len knew he should focus on the problem at the hand instead of the weakened speedster. It seemed like they were in big trouble. Something was coming. And not only for them but for the entire city. Whatever it was, it made people believe it was a god. And it was planning to kill Red and turn Len into a slave. This city can’t rely on their police, they can’t rely on their politicians. They can’t rely on the criminals. 

This bleeding, red-clad, talkative young man was all they had. 

“I trust you, too, Red. I know you will save us.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, I am lanthimo on tumblr


End file.
